Ever Growing, Ever Green: A Conversation with Ruth Auffarth

We live in a culture that idolizes youth but no matter how hard we might try, we cannot escape the fact that unless we die young, each of us will experience aging. Is it possible to be “ever growing ever green” as we age? Is sixty really the new fifty? What does it mean to flourish in old age? What if we don’t have energy to do all those wonderful things we did when we were younger? When should we start preparing for old age? Is there anything glorious about growing old?

In this free-flowing conversation Sharon Betters, age 70, asks Ruth Auffarth, age 88,  these questions and more. So grab a cup of coffee, a glass of iced tea, sit back and listen in as two old friends share thoughts about what it means to grow old with grace and dignity.

In the book co-authored by Susan Hunt and Sharon Betters, Aging with Grace, Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture, each chapter ends with a story-teller who is at least seventy years old. Each woman gives the readers a glimpse into what aging with grace looks like for her. One of those storytellers is Ruth Auffarth. In a five-minute video for the companion series Aging with Grace, Ask an Older Woman, Ruth answered the question: 

What two life disciplines helped prepare you for aging?

Ruth Gray Auffarth was born August 6, 1930, in Philadelphia, PA the 3rd of six children.  The family moved to Newark, DE when Ruth was eight years old.  She attended the Newark school system through high school and then Shelton College in Ringwood, NJ.  Ruth came to know Christ as her Savior during summer Bible school in the then, Bible Presbyterian Church, later Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Newark.  

After college, she married Robert F. Auffarth, a graduate of Wake Forest University in NC and Faith Theological Seminary in Elkins Park, PA.  They were called to serve as pastor and wife of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Newark. During this time the Lord blessed the Auffarths with three sons:  Gary, Bradley, and Mark. After seven and a half years they felt called to go to Chile, SA as church planters under World Presbyterian Missions where they served for ten years.  Because of the educational needs of their sons, they returned to Delaware and served the Evangelical Presbyterian Church again for another twenty-two years.

After forty-eight years of marriage, Bob died in 2003 and Ruth moved to Gainesville, GA to live near her son, Brad, his wife, Cathy, and their two daughters.  Ruth now has 13 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Two of her grandsons live in Chile along with three of the great grandchildren.

Ruth Auffarth – What two life disciplines helped prepare you for aging?

Go to agingwithgrace.online for more Ask an Older Woman videos and information about Aging with Grace - Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture.